Crackhead (13 page)

Rick also had a reputation as being somewhat extra. He had been doing his own thing out in Brooklyn before joining forces with Dink. He was a good earner and brought a multitude of things to the team. Most notable was his lust for violence. He was a hothead, who believed in doing things only one way—his way. He and Dink constantly butted heads, but the money they made together overshadowed all the bullshit.

“Yo, speaking of Dame, that nigga tryin' to run whores now, on the sneak tip. Muthafucka always doing some side shit. Yo, we need to check him, Dink,” said Marco.

Marco had never liked Dame because Dame had a file on him. He wasn't sure of the exact contents of the file, but Dame was always giving him a look like, “
I got yo' ass, nigga.
”

I
T HAD BEEN
four days since Laci had seen her girls. None of them wanted to be the one to make initial contact with her. They chose to sit back and allow Laci to get at them so that they could see where her head was. Laci could have cared less about who made contact first. She had spent the past ninety-six hours fantasizing about getting high, desperately wanting that feeling back.

By day two, Laci had started to feel under the weather. At one point, her mother had walked into her bedroom and found her keeled over. They both thought that Laci might have been coming down with the flu, so she stayed home from school Monday and Tuesday.

Laci tried to stay in bed during that time, but she grew restless as the hours passed. For some reason she couldn't stop thinking about getting high. She longed for that same high she felt from her first hit. But she feared that it would never be like the first time. And although the shit had stunk to high
hell, it took her to paradise. She shivered just remembering the feeling.

Margaret tried to make small talk with her, but Laci only half-listened and hardly responded. All she could think about was getting high. Her mother went on and on about graduation and Puerto Rico. Laci wasn't trying to hear anything, not unless the principal was going to hand her a joint instead of a diploma, or her mother was sending her off to Puerto Rico with a suitcase full of weed. Fuck clothes. She would lie around butt-naked blazin'.

Laci was damn near ready to climb the walls that seemed to be closing in on her. The high was calling her, and she couldn't resist. She thought it was cool. Now she had a weed habit, just like the girls. Laci had no idea what tune the devil was about to play for her on his fiddle. She didn't care, either. She was just happy to be dancing. Now she knew why the girls hardly made a move without getting high. She sort of missed them, or maybe it was the weed she knew they could get for her. Either way, she knew that she was missing something. Laci decided to give Tonette a call. Maybe Tonette could help her fill the void. Laci picked up the phone and dialed the number.

“Who dis?” Tonette answered on the second ring with a stink attitude.

“Hey, it's Laci,” she said sheepishly. “What you doing?” She spoke as if nothing was up, and Tonette did the same.

“Nothing. I'm waiting for Shaunna's pregnant ass,” Tonette said. “Where you been hidin'?” Tonette patiently waited for Laci's response. If Laci was going to beef, this was going to open the door for her to do so.

“I've been a little sick,” Laci told her.

“Really?” Tonette sighed with relief. “Everything cool?”

“Yeah, probably just getting a cold.” Laci sniffed.

“Say, how did you like that weed?” Tonette asked, again opening up the door of opportunity.

“It was dope,” Laci said excitedly. “I was actually gonna ask if you had any more.” There was a pause. “Well, do you?”

Tonette's mouth dropped. “Listen to little Miss Pothead,” she said with a cunning smile. “Sorry, girl. The last of that got smoked up.”

“Damn,” Laci said, sounding defeated.

“I know where to get more,” Tonette said teasingly. “But it's a little expensive.”
Fuck it
, she thought. The shit must not have fazed her like they thought it would. It didn't kill her either, so everything was all-good. Anything this bitch did now, she was doing on her own.

“How much?” Laci asked, looking at her purse, which was sitting on the dresser.

“Depends. Usually you've gotta buy it in bulk, but for about a hundred I can probably do something for you.”

“I don't know if I've got that much on me,” Laci said, thumbing through her cash. All she had left was five dollars after paying for her cab ride home the other night.

“Don't sweat it,” Tonette said nonchalantly. “We can get some regular green.”

Laci needed to get exactly what she'd had the other night. Anything less just wouldn't cut it. “No, I want that chronic you gave me before. Give me a little while to try and scrape up that hundred.”

“Okay. Meet me at the 4 train on 161st Street around four o'clock,” Tonette instructed. She hung up before Laci could answer. There was no need to wait. She knew Laci would be there.

 

MINUTES AFTER TONETTE
got off the phone with Laci, Shaunna showed up at her doorstep. She wobbled into the house and flopped down on Tonette's couch. Shaunna's partying, drinking, and smoking was starting to catch up with her. Trying to live the life and carry a child was hard work.

“Girl, you're just in time,” Tonette said.

“In time for what?” Shaunna asked.

“To see some funny shit,” Tonette giggled. “I just hung up the phone with you-know-who.”

“Who?” Shaunna said.

“Who you think, yo?” Tonette said, sucking her teeth and placing her hand on her hip.

“Word?” Shaunna said, leaning forward. “Did you call her? What did she say? Did she cuss you out?”

“Listen to this,” Tonette said, sitting down next to Shaunna. “We're about to take her over to 161st to get some rock.”

“No way,” Shaunna said in complete disbelief. “You need to cut it out. Don't you think once is enough? You're gonna give the girl a fucking habit. You seen what happened to Quita.”

“Fuck Quita. She did that without our help.”

“Whatever, you never liked her either. Especially after you found out about her and Dame.”

Tonette was fuming; she'd never mentioned Quita since their falling-out. Quita had been a major part of the South Bronx Bitches, but they kicked her out two weeks after Laci came into the picture. “This Laci shit ain't on me,” Tonette protested. “That ho called and asked me to get it for her.”

Shaunna shook her head in disagreement. “Tonette, I think you're going a lil' too far with this shit. I mean, ha ha, joke's over. We all had a good laugh. The bitch passed initiation or whatever you want to call it. It's over.”

“Damn, you starting to sound like Crystal,” Tonette said defensively. “I called her to let her in on what was going down, and she tried to dead me, too. Fuck is everybody so worried about Laci for? I didn't see anybody taking that woo from her the other night.”

“Whatever,” Shaunna said.

“Yeah, whatever,” Tonette said, waving her off as she got up from the couch. “Just bring yo' ass on so we don't miss her when she shows up.”

Reluctantly, Shaunna pulled herself up off the couch and followed the leader.

BY THE TIME
Tonette and Shaunna got to the train station, Laci was already waiting. She still looked like her normal stuck-up self. Her hair was slicked back in a big, curly ponytail and she was wearing a pair of creased Calvin Klein blue jeans with a crisp white shirt. She might have looked like the same Laci on the outside, but Tonette could tell by the way she was acting so antsy and dancing in place that something totally different was going on with her.

“What up, girl?” Tonette asked with a fake sisterly grin.

“Hey, girl,” Laci said, hugging her. “What up, Shaunna?”

“Hey,” Shaunna said flatly.

Laci peeped Shaunna's bland-ass greeting and made a mental note of it. Every time she came around, one of them found a reason to have an attitude. It never failed. She was so happy to see Tonette that she didn't even care. Let Shaunna have her attitude. All Laci was thinking about was chilling and getting her smoke on.

“So, where to?” Laci asked, getting right to the matter of the meeting.

“Right to the point, huh?” Shaunna mumbled.

“Shut up,” Tonette warned her. “It's only a few blocks from here. Come on, y'all.”

Tonette led the way. The girls cut into a block that was filled with short tenement buildings. Some were leaning and some had just fallen completely down. People moved up and down the block, trying to hustle this or that. Tonette waved them off and headed directly for the man she was looking for.

Marvin was an older man who looked like he had seen better days. He sat on the hood of someone's car, rapping to a cracked-out-looking chick. Tonette made eye contact with him and beckoned him over. “Gimme your money, Laci,” she said, extending her hand. Laci placed five twenties in her palm. “Hold up, y'all,” Tonette said, excusing herself from the two of them. She walked over to Marvin and started speaking.

Laci looked around the neighborhood, scared to death. She was afraid that someone might spot her and tell her mother. But no one that her mother knew would be caught dead in this part of town. Although Laci hung out with her girls in the hood, she never really chilled hard in some of the shadier parts of town. Being in such proximity to so many addicts made her uneasy.

Shaunna peeped how noided Laci was acting. She just shook her head. It was obvious what she was becoming.

“Let's go, y'all,” Tonette said, walking past her friends.

“Did you get it?” Laci asked hopefully.

“Just bring yo' ass,” Tonette said, continuing her stroll.

Laci scrambled behind her like a lost puppy. Tonette got a kick out of stringing her along. It made her feel good to be on top for once. Laci had tasted the drug for only a short time, and she was already jonesin'.

“Let's hop in a cab,” Laci said, looking around. “I wanna get up outta here.”

“What's the matter?” Shaunna teased. “Ain't got no stomach for the hood?”

“No, I just wanted to get off this block,” Laci lied. Between all the activity and Laci's urge to get high, she felt like she was going to go bananas. When the gypsy cab pulled up, Laci was the first one to hop in it.

Tonette was slick with her shit. When they got in the cab, Laci asked to see what her hundred dollars had bought her. Tonette fed her a bullshit excuse about the area being too hot to pull it out right then. During the ride, Shaunna engaged Laci in conversation while Tonette discreetly rolled the woo. By the time they had reached their destination, Laci was presented with two freshly rolled joints.

SUNSET IN THE
hood meant the streets came alive. Tonette and her crew had been in the same spot for the last couple of hours. Laci sat on the bench higher than high. She was looking off into space and having trouble feeling her tongue. This was the kind of high she had been craving.

By this time, Monique and Crystal had joined them. When Monique had first walked up on the girls, she immediately knew what time it was. She had seen Laci wear that glazed-over look at Crystal's house. She looked at the stupid-ass grin Laci was wearing and had to turn her head to keep from laughing in her face. She understood the first time, but how in the hell did they get Laci to smoke for a second time without her figuring out that something was up?

Laci, being the kind-hearted fool that she was, offered to let
Tonette spark one. Tonette told her that she was trying to go for a city job over the summer and didn't want to piss dirty. Shaunna used the pregnant excuse again, so smoking was out of the question for her. The couple of times that she passed the blunt to Crystal, she was too busy talking and carrying on to realize that Crystal never once hit it and only held it between her fingers. Just like the first time, Laci was on her own.

The more Laci smoked, the more she fell in love with the drug. Tonette had put more crack in the blunt than weed, but Laci wouldn't have noticed. All she cared about was sucking in the death mist that had become the object of her affection. Laci had been officially introduced to her monkey.

The girls pretty much just sat around watching Laci make a fool of herself. The crack had her bugging. First she kept pacing back and forth, talking about how much energy she had. Then the fool started singing The Temptations' “Cloud Nine” at the top of her lungs.
“I'm doing fine . . . up here on Cloud Nine . . . I'm gonna sail up higher . . . up, up and away . . .”
Shaunna felt like she was going to go into premature labor tripping off of Laci's antics.

“Yo,” Laci said, hopping up for at least the fifth time, “I'm mad hyped. Any other time y'all would be trying to talk me into sneaking into a club or something. But now everybody just wants to sit around and look at each other. We need to do something, anything. Let's just make a move.”

“Why don't you just chill,” Crystal said. She had had enough of Laci. She wished she had just kept her ass at home.

“Fuck that.” Laci snapped her fingers, continuing to hum the song. “We need to be in the streets, y'all. Why are we wasting the night?”

“Listen to Action Jackson over here,” Monique said, sucking
her teeth. “You been watching too much BET. Why don't you sit yo' high ass down?”

Laci paused for a moment, getting ready to follow Monique's orders like she normally would have done, just to keep things down. But a voice inside her told her to rebel. “You know what?” Laci said, putting her hands on her hips. “Fuck you!” Everyone's jaw dropped. “Every time you come around you bring your bullshit with you. Take that shit home with your tired ass.”